A base station has a finite number of resource units, such as scheduling blocks, which may be allocated for uplink transmission by user equipment devices (UEs) in the coverage area of the base station. The effective number of available scheduling blocks may be increased by deploying multiple antennae to spatially divide the service area into multiple sectors. The spatial separation of UE devices in different sectors frequently allows the base station to schedule different UEs in different sectors to use the same scheduling blocks for uplink transmission without fear of interference. For example, where scheduling blocks are defined in terms of frequencies, two UE devices that are sufficiently spatially separated in two different sectors may be assigned the same frequency and time slot for uplink transmission without fear of the concurrent uplink transmissions substantially interfering with one another.
Conventionally, a base station sequentially schedules the UEs that require an uplink transmission within the coverage area of the base station. For each such UE, a number of determinations must be made, including identifying the most appropriate part of the frequency spectrum to use for the transmission, which modulation and coding scheme to use for the transmission, and which scheduling blocks will be allocated for the transmission. These determinations utilize clock cycles of the base station's processor, and in those situations where a number of UEs are waiting to be scheduled, latency can become a limiting factor in maximizing the traffic capacity in the coverage area.